I’m a sucker for all those cheesy and fried appetizers I’ve been seeing especially with Superbowl Sunday coming up this weekend. I wanted to share an option like these Cucumber Roll Ups that are easy to do that offers a healthy option and can also feed those who are gluten free, vegetarian, even vegan.

I usually wait a while before trumpeting how awesome a new place is – there’s just time needed to get service up to speed and work through bumps and get consistency. But sometimes, there’s a place so good that I need all of you to start visiting ASAP to support their awesomeness. Musubi is one of those places. Perhaps my keychain charm and my dish towel also reveal a slight bias.

Brand spanking new, they are currently only open on weekdays 8 AM – 3 PM. Update they are now open Saturday and Sunday 10 AM – 5 PM now too! Yeah, basically like food truck hours though they have a brick and mortar space at 2134 SE Division St but it’s more geared to take-out and delivery than dining there (seating wise there are only a handful of stools). They also are offering delivery if you text your order for group orders within a certain delivery area and they can even function as essentially a pop up to a workplace of 5-10 people, make sure you check their map.

I selfishly want all of us to show them enough love (and money) that they can expand their days and hours- especially at least to the weekends which they are tentatively saying could be in November. In Japan, we pretty much stopped to get onigiri every day that we threw in our bag as a snack, especially for hikes or as snacks for long train rides – and I stocked up on musubi when we were in Hawaii for fuel in our bags as well – musubi was my gateway to Spam.Example Onigiri in Japan

As you can see, taking it to go the triangle ones are carefully packaged in plastic with a red strip guiding you how to open it- and it keeps it separate so the seaweed stays crispy and dry away from the more moist rice portion until the moment of consumption and you bring it together.

Don’t worry if you tear it incorrectly in your excitement – as long as you keep the seaweed in one piece, you can just put it in and wrap it to eat. Or, just eat the rice ball without the seaweed coat if you’d like (which is what I did for the 2 photos below)

Musubi offers 7 onigiri, also known as o-musubi (the triangle shape rice balls in which usually have the highlighted ingredient packed inside the rice ball then enveloped in seaweed paper) and 2 musubi (the rectangle shape rice shape that has the protein tied on top like you tie a canoe on car roof but with a seaweed belt, a snack that you will usually see in Hawaii). 3 of the onigiri and 1 of the musubi are vegan.Oh no the onigiri is naked!

There may be additional kinds of ingredients that come and go based on specials of the day – follow them on social media on Facebook at grindmusubi or Instagram @grindmusubi or Twitter @grindmusubi to keep up to date on limited edition specials. The rice used in all are Koshihikari Japanese rice and they utilize YamasaTamari Shoyu which is locally made in Salem Oregon and contains only organic soybeans and no wheat so everything is gluten free.

Triangle

Just Rice: Vegan Bitterman Salts’ Japanese cherry plum salt.

Sour Plum: Vegan Japanese ume plum pickled and aged with shiso leaves and salt, this umeboshi was a consistent presence when we were in Japan last year because it is so traditional. It is sour with a bit of sweet and salty so some people like how the rice grounds it, while others that shock of sour that reminds me a bit of a sour beer and it can add up to be a little too much

Seasoned Kelp: Vegan This is Konbu, or sea kelp with tamari soy sauce (no wheat) and hint of yuzu (a citrus fruit) so it’s like a combo of when you have a sushi roll and give it a good dip on soy sauce. This was F’s favorite as a vegetarian or vegan option.

Shoyu and Bonito: Bonito is fish so this not vegetarian (it’s dried here and shaved very thin like the thinnest of tissue paper), and expect this to be a stronger variation of a bit of fishy salty taste and rice

Spicy Tuna Mayo: A mix of albacore tuna with Kewpie Japanese mayo and shichimi seven spice mix. This was my favorite kind to get when I was in Japan because I like the slight kick of spiciness

Chicken Curry: This is the most not Japanese I thought of the flavors so I thought it was intriguing, since the locally raised, cage and hormone free chicken thighs are marinated in a housemade Thai curry

Rectangle

Artisanal Spam: Wow, they make their own version of SPAM so instead of the can they use their own pork shoulder, uncured ham, salt and garlic and housemade teriyaki glaze for a more healthful choice then actual SPAM. Impressed. This is the most “expensive” of the offerings they have on the menu at $3.75.

Sides

Onolicious Miso Soup: Housemade dashi base whisked with premium Awase miso paste, Ota tofu, roasted sweet potato – my favorite of the sides but you pretty much have to enjoy it fresh and warm right away. The use of that roasted sweet potato really gives it extra depth from the thin standard miso soup you may normally be used to – I still drink it while eating bites of onigiri but it’s so chunky with tofu and sweet potato you’ll have to chew it too!

Wakame Dulse Salad: Vegan A more traditional Japanese side with Japanese and Maine broadlead seaweeds in a tangy sweet dressing that is nice and light, not overpowering and which is a great accompaniment to counter the salty in many of the rice balls.

Takayo’s Mac Salad: A nod to Musubi’s Hawaiian roots here with Mama Takayo’s inspiration for this mix of elbow mac, Best Foods mayo, paprika, hardboiled eggs. The creaminess here gives you a nice break and adds richness to a rice ball meal.

Daikon Yuzu Salad: Vegan more traditional Japanese side using shredded daikon radish, and the version I had also included jalapeno for a little burn as the daikon itself has more texture than flavor.

Not only area they offering these affordable (everything on the menu is listed at less than $4) delicious nods to Japan and Hawaii, they are also going above and beyond by contributing to solve the Oregon hunger problem. With every musubi that you buy they are putting a dime into the collection jar and at the end of the year they will make a gift to a local hunger charity Portland Fruit Tree Project so that ending your hunger helps end hunger throughout Oregon.

Stop in to grab a bunch as your breakfast or lunch, or to throw in your bag as a snack. I bought a bunch of these to go to a beer share – so stop by and stock up like I did on your way to one of the many beer bars that let you bring your own food.

Size wise, one of these counts as a snack, for a meal you will want 2-3 of these and a side. While checking out as an option also sign up for their loyalty program by providing your phone number – every time you spend more than $3 you get a star, and once you get 12 stars you get a free musubi.

Have you had onigiri or musubi before? What would be your choice combo?

When I realized that I had way too much feta from my Costco order which I had delivered via Instacart (which I’ve raved about before for bringing me needed items at the last minute right to my door – and I don’t need a Costco membership), I immediately thought of this recipe for Green Beans with Walnut and Feta and Mint Vinaigrette for the next potluck at work in order to help use it up.

I had the recipe idea pinned from The Kitchen is My Playground for a while, with it’s intriguing promise of fun textures of the firm green beans, walnuts, and feta while highlighting a fresh mint vinaigrette.Ingredients:

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the cut 1 1/2 pounds of green beans and cook for only 3 minutes – we want it to turn bright green only. Drain the hot water and immediately plunge the green beans into ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain again and pat dry with paper towels.

Add the dressing to the mixing bowl and toss everything. Chill for about an hour before serving.

So this salad was definitely great for lunch for a couple days… great for the potluck for a group as it was easy to transport to work and leave out. For later lunches it was a nice crispy side of veggies and nuts with a bit of acid to balance out a grilled cheese sandwich.

A incredibly delicious recipe I made for brunch one weekend was this Rosemary and Cheddar Breakfast Sausage dip.

The original inspiration that I only did minor tweaks came from the Food Should Taste Good website recipe for Brunch that users breakfast sausage, maple syrup, cheddar cheese and fresh rosemary. They got the recipe courtesy of Amanda Paa of heartbeetkitchen.com. My minor change as that I used sage breakfast sausage and removed the use of salt as I’m not a huge fan of too much salt and I also had some leftover sage that I minced and added as well to help highlight the sage in the sausage I used.

These are the Food Should Taste Good multigrain tortilla chips that are paired with this dip are gluten free, GMO free, and include healthy ingredients such as brown rice flour, flax, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, quinoa, and stone ground corn as well as rosemary extract, which will echo the bit of rosemary in the dip.

And, it was a great way to use some of the leftover grated cheddar cheese I had grated (I grated 36 ounces of it for the cheddar fondue recipe I posted earlier on Monday!)

Ingredients:

8 ounces of breakfast sausage

1/4 cup minced onion

3 cups freshly grated cheddar cheese (9 ounces)

2 1/2 tablespoons corn starch

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh rosemary

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tablespoon of maple syrup

bag of Food Should Taste Good Multigrain Chips for serving

Directions:

In a medium sized skillet over medium high heat, add the 8 ounces of breakfast sausage. Crumble it as much as you can as you add it to the plain skillet, and as you cook the sausage crumble it some more to break it up and stir.

When sausage has just a little pink remaining, add the 1/4 cup of minced onion and continue cooking, until meat is no longer pink and onions are translucent. Drain meat (separate it from the oil that emerged – I save the oil in a container to use for fried rice or something else) and set aside to cool.

In a bowl, toss together the 3 cups of freshly grated cheddar cheese, 2 1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch, 1 1/2 teaspoons of rosemary, and 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder. If you use pre-grated packaged cheddar cheese it already has cornstarch and other preservatives in it – I recommend grating the cheese fresh!

In a medium sized saucepan, combine the 1 1/2 cups of milk and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup. Turn the heat to medium and stir constantly while it warms to steaming but not burning. Once it starts steaming, add your cheese rosemary dry mix and continue stirring as the cheese melts.

Once the cheese is melted and smooth, add the sausage and stir is to distribute the sausage evenly. Pour into a container and serve with the chips!

This dip is so good I can imagine folding a few spoonfuls into an omelette as well. This feeds 6 people and refrigerated well – I just warmed it up before serving again. I served mine in mini-ramekins with the chips. It’s great for if you have guests staying over for a little fancy extra breakfast side, or just to treat yourself on a cold morning – I justified the healthy multi grain chips as making this cheese and mat dip totally balanced.

If it looks sorta fondue-y… you’re right I thought the same thing! Obviously this isn’t vegetarian, which I wanted for my party, but for brunch for myself, sausage and bacon are fair game right?

Have you ever heard of the Simple and Crisp Fruit Crackers before? This is a great healthy alternative to crackers that also satisfy those in the party group who may be gluten-free. They are 100% fruit that are simply thinly sliced, dried, and that’s it. Simple and healthy since unlike a regular cracker vehicle they offer fiber and antioxidants, and after a month of parties it’s a welcome change from the regular cheese and crackers.
The crackers pair great with wine – whether red or white – and a variety of cheeses, here you can see I have a cream cheese and vegetable spread. Cheddars, Swiss, Brie, Blue cheeses and more work equally well. We didn’t finish all the crackers at the wine party, and I snacked on some of the leftover fruit with cheese and tea too. If I had chocolate around I might melt it and dip the fruit crackers in the chocolate too.

There are four types of fruit they offer:

Blood Orange (my favorite)

Orange (second favorite for me)

Pear

Apple

As you can see, they look fancy even though I did nothing but dump it out of the package, so perfect for the holidays. I’m not being compensated for this post – I just really like this product.

Simple and Crisp fruit crackers are a Northwest non-GMO local product created from Seattle by Jane Yuan a couple years ago. So not only are you supporting local, but also a female entrepreneur. The apples and pears are sourced from Washington and Oregon partners, and the oranges from California.

Especially during this time of years when I’m attending many get togethers, I appreciate something that looks impressive but is so stupid easy to put together, especially when I have to go straight from after work.

I get these Simple and Crisp crackers at Whole Foods, though I’ve seen them at other specialty markets too (for instance Zupan’s here, and nationally at Williams Sonoma).

Which of these fruit crisps sounds most appealing to you? What is your favorite combo to bring to a get together that is easy when you are going straight from after work?

About Pech

Pechluck's Food Adventures
Enjoying deliciousness in Portland & wherever travels may lead me.
My name is Pech, short for Pechluck. I enjoy adventures in eating - dining out and cooking and imbibing for local Portland deliciousness or wherever travels lead.

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Disclosure: There may be at times sponsored posts where the ticket to an event or meal or sample product to review was complimentary, but I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.